The Love of Reading

Our guest blogger is Serafima Bogomolova author of My Trickster.

The Love of Reading

I have recently come across a very interesting post onGoodreads.com. The question raised was “Why Do We Love Reading?”

There did not seem to be many replies… In fact, there were no replies at all. I pondered why is that. Is it so difficult a question? Or is it that the answer is not obvious…? Or maybe en mass people do not know or realise why they love reading?

To me the answer to this question is easy.

I love reading for many reasons. Reading to me is very much like travelling or exploring. When I read, I ‘teleport’ into different realms. The realms created and shared with me by other writers and artists.

Each book is a soul of a writer presented through his views, expressions, experiences, notes, perspectives, information, knowledge, skills, and observations he/she has gathered in order to write a particular book.

Reading provides me with entrainment, emotional adventure, passionate encounters, and new acquaintances. I learn about life and my place in it through reading. Books are my teachers and advisors that are always there helpful, kind, and understanding.

I must admit I also read to escape my every day problems and challenges. I do not avoid solving them, but from time to time I feel like I need a ‘holiday’ from it all, and then I chose a book and submerge myself into it. On many occasions, after finishing a book, I come back to my own reality with a ready answer or a solution to my problem.

I also love reading because it provides me with a glimpse into people’s motivations and ways of thinking. I am a very observant person. I can spend ours watching people, noting their facial expressions, gestures and behaviours. When I read I do the same only by observing books’ characters. The characters I have not had a chance to meet in real life, but can meet on the pages of a book.

I read to get information, to develop a specific skill, to learn new things, to get guidance in questions I do not have the answers for.

I love reading because reading is being on a receiving end of a communication between the author and the reader. And I love to receive messages.  A book is a message of one to many, the author to readers, and in this case I am happy to be one of many.